-&
Sars.

Douglas dynasty continues
Badminton star Rui Lin Huang up for B.C. college athlete of the year award

 

prize, this award cuts across all of college
athletics. She’s running up against Langara

 

Rui Lin Huang
By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

 

r the past few years, Douglas
College has been home to one of

the most dominating dynasties in

College’s soccer star Loren Linden and
Camosun’s Carmen Lapthorne, who plays
basketball. Don’t think though that just
because Huang plays badminton that
she’s at a disadvantage. This season the
second-year Douglas student has been
quietly putting together one of the most
dominating and powerful performances
anyone has ever seen, and that isn’t an
exaggeration.

Since she began competing for

Douglas, Huang has an unblemished record

(including a remarkable 33-0 mark this
season). In fact, not only has she gone
completely unbeaten in her two years

playing in the BCCAA, she also hasn’t lost

a set, ever. That’s bringing domination to
an entirely new level.

But Huang isn’t Douglas’ only
superstar on the badminton court. On the
men’s side is Alvin Lau, perhaps the most
decorated collegiate badminton player
of all time. Lau is a perennial all-star in
both singles and doubles competition and
recently wrapped up this year’s campaign
in the best way possible; he won the 2010
YONEX National Championships in

doubles competition, which were contested

in Winnipeg, with partner John Vandervet.
The duo closed out Toby Ng and Adrian
Liu of Langara in three close sets.
Throughout all events over the entire
tournament, Lau went an impressive 7-1,
and was able to successfully rebound from
a hard loss in mixed doubles to Vandervet
and his partner Milaine Cloutier. When he
and Vandervet were paired together, they

were perfect, sporting a clean 4-0 record on

their way to winning the title. As a senior,
this is Lau’s first National Championship
victory.

“Not only has she gone completely unbeaten in her two years
playing in the BCCAA, she also hasn’t lost a set, ever. That’s
bringing domination to an entirely new level.”

the history of Canadian college sports.
While badminton doesn’t quite get the
recognition of some of the other, more
traditional collegiate activities, some of
the very best can be found at Douglas,
and most recently that includes Rui Lin
Huang, who is has been nominated for
the 2009 Sport B.C. college athlete of the
year award.

Now, this isn’t just a badminton

18

Looking back through Lau’s storied
career, he’s been showered with a
seemingly endless stream of player of the
year awards, all-star berths a number of
titles from a wide variety of organizations.
In his senior year with Douglas however,
winning the most prestigious of them all,
a coveted national championship, may just
prove to be his sweetest achievement to
date.

 

 

 

 

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

ne of the most gruelling and
Or physical events of

the year in the whole world
is the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog
Race, held every year in Alaska where
mushers and their dogs traverse 1,161
miles from Anchorage to Nome in spans
of up to 15 days. During this race, which
begins at the beginning of March, racers
have to endure freezing temperatures
that make Edmonton seem like Hawaii,
winds that can cause the cold to drop up
to 30 degrees and a near endless stretch
of extreme and harsh terrain. While the
Iditarod is one of the most well known
and publicized dog sled races in the
world, it is far from the only one, and
there are plenty just like it. But is sled
dog racing a sport?

There’s no doubting the level of
toughness required to even attempt a
race like the Iditarod. It makes the Tour
de France look a leisurely ride in the
park.

Do the dogs to pretty much all the
work? Yes, but the same argument can
be made of horse racing, and it doesn’t
mean that either one isn’t a sport. Much
like a jockey, a musher has to be in
near-total control of his animals at all
times, and that’s even more complex and
difficult what a jockey has to do because
sled races last days and there are up to
ten dogs to look after instead of just one
horse.

Now, there is a case to be made
that mushers aren’t true athletes in the

traditional sense. The only real athletic
qualities they share with say, a football
quarterback or a goalie in hockey is

an incredible degree of endurance

and the need to be very aware of their
surroundings at all times. Take Lance
Mackey, the winner of the last three
consecutive Iditarod races, for example.
Mackey is a throat cancer survivor
who’s had one of his finger’s amputated
and along with his Iditarod victories
has also won four straight Yukon Quest
races, which is another insanely long
sled race through the Yukon that lasts
for over 1,000 miles. I don’t care if this
guy can’t catch a football or shoot a
three-pointer, he is obviously one tough,
tough man.

But is a need for toughness enough
to qualify something as a sport? After
all, there are plenty of other occupations
and activities out there where you have
to in excellent physical condition,
but that aren’t sports, think mountain
climbing in the Alps for example. I think
that the difference when it comes to
dog sledding is that is that it is an actual
race that the mushers and their dogs
are competing in. That’s the operative
word: competing. There are other teams
to compete against. Plain and simple,
dog sledding is a race, which by its very
nature is a sporting event.

THE VERDICT:

Is sled dog racing unique? Is it popular
only among a very small and very
specific portion of society? Yes and
yes—but it is also a sport.